ANGELES City Councilor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. said that the local government unit needs to work with the business sector to spur economic development in the city.

Lazatin declared that the City Government needs to work closely with the private sector in order to further enhance the growth of the business sector.

Lazatin made the statement during the Angeles City's Mayoral Candidates Forum sponsored by Hotel and Restaurants Association in Pampanga, Inc. (Harp) on November 21 at Oasis Hotel, after he was asked about his plans on how to support and sustain the business sector in the city once he is elected as mayor.

Lazatin added that his first order of business in office will be to clean the “rotten eggs” in the City Government, especially those who use their position to extort businesses in the city.

“Our administration will have a stand,” Lazatin stressed, “Meaning, we will clean out the corrupt employees in the city government, regardless of their affiliation.”

Lazatin also said that the application for business permits in the city will be effectively modernized under his administration.

“The present Business-One-Stop-Shop was first implemented during the administration of my father,” Lazatin said, referring to former three-term Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin.

“Under our administration, we plan to improve this further by properly implementing the city’s online business application system, starting with proper information dissemination. We are in the age of information technology and we need to take advantage and use it to improve the delivery of public services,” he said.

The City Government maintains an E-Boss or Electronic Business One-Stop Shop but majority are not using the system.

The city's Business Permit and Licensing Division stated that only 16 businesses applied for their permits through the E-Boss in 2017.